No shortage of religious holidays in N.J. schools

With the short days for parent-teacher conferences, days off for the NJEA convention and Thanksgiving break, and the December holidays later this month, it isn't easy for teachers and students to get into much of a rhythm these days.

For some children, there will be even more missed school time due to religious holidays. For the current school year, the state Board of Education will allow student absences for nearly 130 religious holidays - nearly triple the number approved in the 1990s.

Among those approved: Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's birthday on March 13, a Wiccan spring fertility festival on May 1 and Narouz for the Zoroastrians. There also are authorized absences for Shinto, Confucian and Jain religious holidays.

Christians and Eastern Orthodox Christians have 22 approved holidays - the most of any religious group. There are 13 Jewish and Bahai holidays, and 10 Buddhist and Islamic holidays.

Parole violations offset value of supervision

Offenders released to parole supervision in New Jersey are 36 percent less likely to be arrested, convicted and returned to prison for new crimes than inmates who served out their full sentences behind bars, according to a new Pew Charitable Trusts study.

Twenty-five percent of inmates released to parole supervision in 2008 were returned to prison for a new criminal offense within three years, compared with 39 percent of inmates who "maxed out" their prison sentences.

But when both technical violations of parole terms and new offenses were considered, 38 percent of parolees returned to prison within three years, a nearly identical rate as max-outs, who are not subject to supervision rules or revocation to prison.

The study summarizes policies that several states have adopted to encourage offenders to comply with the rules of their release and hold them accountable for violations while avoiding their return to prison.

Christie representative visits Democratic panel

Democrats control all of the state's legislative hearings, and members of Gov. Chris Christie's administration rarely testify outside of budget season, even when invited to make appearances.

But the Senate Commerce Committee's session on Affordable Care Act implementation Thursday drew a Christie representative in Banking and Insurance Commissioner Ken Kobylowski, who spent much of his time defending the administration's delay in tapping a $7.6 million Obamacare federal grant for marketing and outreach.

"We are in active discussions with the federal government on the use of those funds," Kobylowski said in a response to Chairwoman Nia Gill, D-Essex.

Sen. Gerald Cardinale, the only Republican member of the panel who attended, said later he didn't like the line of questioning and called the hearing "a political stunt to take shots at the Christie administration."

Christie administration rapped on wind power

Proponents of offshore wind power Thursday blamed the Christie administration for stalling development of the technology, but they stopped short of blaming Gov. Christie himself.

Christie signed 2010 legislation sponsored by Senate President Stephen Sweeney that was supposed to make New Jersey a hub for turbine manufacturing.

Christie controls the state Board of Public Utilities, which has dragged its feet on the rule-making needed before work can start. But Sweeney, Sen. Jim Whelan and Doug O'Malley of Environment New Jersey put more of the blame on the BPU than on Christie.

"He has responsibility to get his BPU to go to work, too. But I'm putting the blame, honestly, on the BPU," Sweeney said.

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No shortage of religious holidays in N.J. schools

With the short days for parent-teacher conferences, days off for the NJEA convention and Thanksgiving break, and the December holidays later this month, it isn't easy for teachers and students to get

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